Since the very first Homo Sapiens looked up at a star-filled sky we have been awestruck by the vastness of the cosmos. Even today we remain humbled by the sheer immensity of space, especially as through our progress in physics and astronomy, we are now aware of the tremendous distances involved – even to our closest neighbouring stars.

Following on from the huge success of the first Starmus “50 years in space” festival in Tenerife in June, 2011, which featured keynote presentations from Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, Alexei Leonov, Richard Dawkins, Kip Thorne and George Smoot. We are very pleased to announce the second Starmus 2014 Festival, the finest combination of science, art and music to be found anywhere in the world at this time.
This unique event will feature presentations from Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Nobel Prize Winners and prominent figures from science, culture, the arts and music. An astronomical and artistic experience that will enhance your perception of your place in the Universe and change your life forever!
The Starmus Festival is open to everyone young and old, beginners, amateurs and professionals. Anyone who holds a passion for astronomy and space exploration, and who has a desire to know more about where we came from and what’s out there.

Let us hope that our grandchildren at our age can look back and say, ‘The 20th century was a century of advancement and improvement in technology, and the 21st century was a century of advancement and improvement in human character.Neil Armstrong Starmus Festival 2011

Discover the Cosmos and Change the World

Beginnings. The making of the modern cosmos

Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Nobel Prize winners, eminent researchers and prominent figures from science, culture, the arts and music will preside over a conference to both discuss and try to answer the big questions of the day:

Where do we come from?, Where are we headed?
The conference will be taking place at The Ritz-Carlton, Abama in the south of Tenerife and we are also planning to hold some of the conference sessions, including Stephen Hawking and the other speakers, at the The Auditorio de Tenerife “Adán Martín” in Santa Cruz, and the Magma Arte & Congresos in Costa Adeje . However, this will all be part of the main conference and we will not be selling tickets separately just for the Auditorio or Magma presentations.

Keynote Speaker – Stephen Hawking

Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist

Considered one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists since Albert Einstein, his work on the origins and structure of the universe, the Big Bang to black holes, has revolutionized the field of cosmology. Moreover, his best-sellers – A Brief History of Time (1988), The Universe in a Nutshell (2001) and The Grand Design (2010) – have helped popularize science and make it accessible to everyone…..

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A Brief History of Time broke all sales records for books in a way that would have been difficult to predict. By May 1995 it had been in The Sunday Times best-sellers list for 237 weeks, breaking the previous record of 184 weeks, selling 10 million copies in ten years. This deed was recorded in the 1998 Guinness Book of Records.
He was diagnosed with ALS a form of Motor Neurone Disease, shortly after his 21st Birthday. In spite of being wheelchair bound and dependent on a computerised voice system for communication he still manages to combine a family life (he has three children and three grandchildren) and his continued research into theoretical physics, together with an extensive programme of travel and public lectures. He also still hopes to travel into space one day!
Stephen Hawking was born on 8th January 1942 (exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. The son of a research biologist and a medical research secretary, his upbringing gave him a strong curiosity about the universe. He was drawn to physics and mathematics as the sciences that offer the most fundamental insights into the world. He studied natural sciences at Oxford University, where he was awarded a first, and then moved to Cambridge to begin a PhD in cosmology.
Professor Hawking has received a dozen honorary degrees and has received numerous awards, medals and decorations, including the Order of the British Empire (1982), The Prince of Asturias Award for Concord (1989) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009), the highest civilian award in the United States. He is also a member of the Royal Society and the National Academy of Science.
In 1979 he accepted the post of Lucasion Chair of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a post once held by Isaac Newton. Stephen Hawking’s voice was used in the song “Keep Talking” on Pink Floyd’s last album “The Division Bell”.

Speakers

Robert Wilson

Nobel Prize Winner

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Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge Massachusetts. Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.

Sir Harold Kroto

Nobel Prize Winner

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Francis Eppes Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University where he is carrying out research in nanoscience and cluster chemistry. Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1996.

Richard Dawkins

Ethologist & Evolutionary Biologist

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Ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author of ‘The Selfish Gene’, ‘The Extended Phenotype’ and ‘The God Delusion’ among others. Was the University of Oxford’s Professor for Public Understanding of Science.

Brian May

Astrophysicist, musician, singer and songwriter

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Brian May, CBE, has a PHD in astrophysics from Imperial College, and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He has also published research articles in the field of the solar Zodiacal dust cloud. Dr May is most widely known as lead guitarist and founding member of the legendary rock band Queen. He is an active animal rights advocate and was appointed a vice-president of animal welfare charity the RSPCA in September 2012.

Alexei Leonov

Russian Cosmonaut

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On 18 March, 1965, Alexei Leonov became the first human to conduct a space walk. This historic event occurred on the Voskhod 2 flight. He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds connected to the craft by a 5.35 meter tether. At the end of the spacewalk, his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit’s pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule. From 1976 to 1982, Leonov was the commander of the cosmonaut team (“Chief Cosmonaut”) and deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Leonov is an accomplished artist whose published books include albums of his artistic works.

Charles “Charlie” Duke

Apollo 16 Astronaut

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Participated as Orion lunar module pilot on the Apollo 16 mission in 1972 and explored Descartes. The Apollo 16 mission is considered one of the most successful, due to the number of experiments performed on lunar terrain, and the amount of rocky material brought to Earth.

Walter “Walt” Cunningham

Apollo 7 Astronaut

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Ronnie Walter Cunningham (born March 16, 1932), better known as Walt Cunningham, is a retired American astronaut. In October, 1968, he was the lunar module pilot for the eleven day Apollo 7 mission. The first manned test flight of the third generation US spacecraft. Cunningham participated in and executed maneuvers enabling the crew to perform exercises in transposition and docking and lunar orbit rendezvous with the S-IVB stage of the Saturn IB launch vehicle.
He has also been a fighter pilot, physicist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author of The All-American Boys, lecturer, and host of the radio show Lift-off to Logic.
After high school, Cunningham joined the US Navy in 1951, and began flight training in 1952. He served on active duty as a fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1953 until 1956. From 1956 to 1975 he served in the Marine Corps Reserve programme, ultimately retiring at the rank of Colonel.
Cunningham received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960 and his Master of Arts degree in 1961, both in Physics, from the University of California at Los Angeles. He then worked as a scientist for the Rand Corporation while pursuing a doctorate. While with Rand, he worked on classified defense studies and problems of the earth’s magnetosphere.

Katerina Harvati

Professor of Paleoanthropology

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At the Institute for Early Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, University of Tübingen. Her research focuses on Neanderthal evolution, modern human origins and the application of 3-D geometric morphometrics and virtual anthropology to paleoanthropology. Her research was named one of the top 10 scientific discoveries of the year 2007 by TIME magazine for demonstrating the African origin of all modern humans. In 2010 she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her contributions to Paleoanthropology

John Mather

Astrophysicist, Cosmologist and Nobel Prize in Physics

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John Cromwell Mather (USA) is an American astrophysicist and cosmologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) with George Smoot, measuring the cosmic microwave background radiation, showing it came from the early universe, and discovering that it has hot and cold spots that are responsible for the existence of galaxies, stars, planets, and therefore people.
This work helped cement the big-bang theory of the universe. According to the Nobel Prize committee, “the COBE-project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science.”
Mather is a senior astrophysicist at the U.S. space agency’s (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland and adjunct professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2007, Mather was listed among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in The World. In October, 2012, he was listed again by Time magazine in a special issue on New Space Discoveries as one of 25 most influential people in space.
Mather is also the project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) telescope, a space telescope to be launched to L2 no earlier than 2018.
Hi, I’m John Mather, Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. I also won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for measuring the cosmic microwave background radiation, showing it came from the early universe, and discovering that it has hot and cold spots that are responsible for the existence of galaxies, stars, planets, and therefore people

John Ellis

Theoretical Physicist

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Professor John Ellis, is leading physicist of The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and Clerk Maxwell Professor, Kings College London. His primary research interests focus on the phenomenological aspects of particle physics, but he has also made important contributions to astrophysics, cosmology, and quantum gravity Ellis is a long-term research leader at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where high-energy experiments have started and will take physics into a new realm of energy and time. This research also will address the physics analogues of the simple yet profound questions of human existence.
The knowledge of matter revealed by the current reigning theory of particle physics, known as the Standard Model, still leaves open many basic questions, for example: What is the origin of the matter in the Universe, how does its mass originate, what is the nature of the dark matter that fills the Universe, and are there additional dimensions of space? The answers to these questions may set the stage for future experiments beyond the scope of the LHC.
He obtained a B.A. and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University and, after brief post-doc positions at SLAC and Calltech, he went to CERN where he has worked ever since. He was awarded the Maxwell Medal and the Paul Dirac Prize by the Institute of Physics in 1982 and 2005 respectively, and has been an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London since 1985 and of the Institute of Physics since 1991. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Southampton and by Uppsala University. He has twice won the First Award in the Gravity Research Foundation essay competition, in 1999 and 2005.

David Eicher

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David J. Eicher is editor in chief of Astronomy magazine, the world’s largest publication on the subject. He is president of the Astronomy Foundation, the telescope industry’s first-ever trade association. He is author of 17 books on science and history, and at age 15 he founded a magazine on observing galaxies, clusters, and nebulae, Deep Sky Monthly. An avid observer of astronomical objects for more than 35 years, he was honored in 1990 by the International Astronomical Union with the naming of minor planet 3617 Eicher. He is an accomplished rock and blues drummer, playing with the Astronomy Blues Band.

Mark Boslough

Physicist

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A Caltech-trained physicist, Mark Boslough is best known for his research on cosmic impacts and airbursts. Dr. Boslough pioneered the use of nuclear weapons codes to simulate atmospheric explosions caused by comets and asteroids, correctly predicting many of the phenomena associated with the 1994 impact of Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. His research has shown that blast damage from most airbursts, such as the 1908 Tunguska event, is greater than for a nuclear explosion of the same yield. He has argued that airbursts represent a large and growing portion of the total impact risk to Earth, predicting in 2011 that the next destructive impact event would be an airburst. The Chelyabinsk airburst–causing more than a thousand casualties and widespread damage–took place within two years, and Dr. Boslough was the first westerner to arrive and collect field data. His work has been featured in dozens of television documentaries.

Special Guests

Robert Williams

Astrophysicist

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Professor Robert Williams, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), is President of the International Astronomical Union. (IAU). He is an STScI Distinguished Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Physics and Astronomy Department in Baltimore. Professor Williams served as Hubble STScI Director from 1993 until 1998, before which he had been Director of Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile. He was instigator and leader of the Hubble Deep Field, one of humankind’s deepest, most detailed visible-light views of the Universe. A champion of research and public outreach, Prof. Williams has lectured widely on recent astronomical discoveries and their relation to human understanding. He is an avid runner and cyclist.

Grigorij Richters

Director, 51 Degrees

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Grigorij Richters was born in Hamburg, Germany. He had an early interest in film and theatre and at the age of six he bought his first second hand video camera and took up acting and piano classes. By the age of 12, he had already finished over 15 short films and wrote his first feature film script. At the age of 13 he directed his first TV commercial with a budget of 50,000 Euros. At age 15 he had a chance to direct legendary German actor Mario Adorf (Tin drum) in his 40 minute long short film Dean’s Life. The script was co-written by him and Georg Ludy. He worked with the producers of Hostage (Bruce Willis), and his script inspired such films as Click (Adam Sandler) and the recent George Clooney & John Malkovich Nespresso commercial.He has just finished directing 51 Degrees, his first full length feature film, which will have its first private screening at the Starmus Festival in Tenerife. 51 Degrees is a 2014 thriller, science fiction film visually presented as found footage shot from the perspective of various video recording devices, primarily from a hand-held camcorder operated by the main characters and from CCTV cameras and Social Media.
When Damon Miller (Moritz von Zeddelmann), a young London filmmaker becomes involved in the disturbing research surrounding Near-Earth objects he stumbles onto the discovery that the Earth stands on the brink of an extraterrestrial disaster
51 Degrees was shot between 2011 and 2014 in and around London, initially using a skeleton crew and employing guerrilla filmmaking tactics. The crew included stunt coordinator Greg Powell whose previous credits include the James Bond, Harry Potter and Jason Bourne franchises.
The film was one of the largest productions ever to shoot at Piccadilly Circus, featuring over 2,500 extras. A London Metropolitan anti-terrorism unit detained the production team during filming at an abandoned building on South Bank. A security guard called the police after spotting the sound recordist waiting outside the building with a stepladder and several bags worth of mysterious-looking electrical wiring.

Alexandros Hahalis

Composer and Performer

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The Greek born composer, whose childhood dream was to become an astronaut, moved to New York in 1980 and studied classical composition at Aaron Copland School of Music. His debut work ANTITHESIS, in May ’89, reached the US top 10 charts of New Age / Electronic music.
Since then he was commissioned to compose & perform for renowned sculptors & painters (Spyropoulos, Stamos, Masaaki Noda), for major venues and festivals around the World such as the La Mama theater of Ellen Stewart in NYC, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Rochester University, “Dei due Mondi” of Italy, Art Carnuntum of Austria, Libertas of Croatia, and in Greece at Zappeion Megaron, Athens Music Hall, Ancient Delphi Stadium “Athens 2004 Olympic Flame World Tour”, by the Tomb of the Marathon Fighters for the 2500th anniversary, in Ancient Pella for the International Marathon “Alexander the Great”, in “Promitheia” of Mount Olympus. South of Ammohostos (Famagusta) for the 40th “black anniversary” since the Turkish Invasion & Occupation of Cyprus.
He was honored by the Greek Scholars of Chicago University for his sonic interpretation of Greek language in 1998, in 2000 by Urban Stages & Playwrights Preview Society alongside actress Olympia Dukakis in Central Park of NYC “Celebrating the Heritage of Greek Theater & Art”, in Athens Music Hall (Megaron) during “Aristeia 2005”for his artistic achievement outside Greece, by the Art Club “Costis Palamas” (the poet of the Olympic Hymn) for the oratorio he composed with the great National Greek poet’s poetry.
He formed “Apollo Temple” a Non Profit Organization, dedicated in serving Apollo (Helios, the solar life-giving creative energy) and the Nine Muses (Sciences and Arts).
His passion for Astronomy, Greek Philosophy & Mythology is evident in a large number of works such as PARALLEL UNIVERSE, SPLIT INFINITY, DYNAMEIS, PANSELINOS (Full Moon), SYNASTRIA for Pythagoras’s theory “Music of the Spheres”.
PYRAEIZOON for Heraclitus’s “Fire Ever-living” theory, work premiered in Italy with soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, performed at the Eugenideion Planetarium of Athens for the Spring Equinox Celebration 2010, featured at the National University of Athens during the SEAC conference, Société Européenne pour l’Astronomie dans la Culture, September 2013.
A world tour is planned in major Planetariums during 2016, for the 2500th anniversary since Heraclitus died.

For more information on Alexandos’s Hahalis performance at the Space Legends event at Starmus please click here

Nosound

Alternative/Art Rock Band

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Regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the most interesting up and coming alt/art rock bands in Europe, Nosound inventively combines influences from ’70s psychedelia, ’80s/’90s ambient and contemporary alternative, progressive and post rock. The project started as a one man studio project in 2005 by Giancarlo Erra, but has since grown into a five piece band, evolving into something unique, focused and powerful.
The music is evocative and intense, with personal songwriting. Influences range from Pink Floyd to Brian Eno, from Porcupine Tree to Sigur Ros, passing through rock and electronic/ambient.

SEPTEMBER 22-27, 2014

The Ritz-Carlton, Abama
TENERIFE
CANARY ISLANDS
SPAIN

108′

Beginnings. The making of the modern cosmos

A gathering of eminent astronauts, astronomers, cosmonauts, physicists and engineers inside the GTC Roque de los Muchachos Observatory Dome, on the beautiful island of La Palma. The 10.4 meter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world.

108-minutes of the latest news and discoveries in astronomy delivered first hand by World experts in the field. We will discuss some key problems that concern all humanity and will suggest some possible solutions.

Roundtable discussion timed to last as long as the first ever journey into space by Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

Teide Starmus Party

Beginnings. The making of the modern cosmos

In the magical surroundings of the Teide National Park you will feel as if you are walking on the Moon, with its surreal lunar-like landscapes. Even without the aid of a telescope you will be able to see the magnificent Milky Way stretching high above you from horizon to horizon.

This will be an unforgettable night to star gaze in the company of professional astronomers, to savour the vastness of the night sky, with some of the clearest, darkest skies anywhere to be found on the planet.
We are also very pleased to announce that the Starmus Party will have a very important musical element and that the progressive rock band NOSOUND will be performing live.
Regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the most interesting up and coming alt/art rock bands in Europe, Nosound inventively combines influences from ’70s psychedelia, ’80s/’90s ambient and contemporary alternative, progressive and post rock. The project started as a one man studio project in 2005 by Giancarlo Erra, but has since grown into a five piece band, evolving into something unique, focused and powerful.
The music is evocative and intense, with personal songwriting. Influences range from Pink Floyd to Brian Eno, from Porcupine Tree to Sigur Ros, passing through rock and electronic/ambient.

Observe the firmament, and feel as if you can actually touch the stars in the finest open air observatory on Tenerife.

Astrophotography

Beginnings. The making of the modern cosmos

International Astrophotography Contest

Capturing ancient photons.
With the right equipment, a lot of preparation, a great deal of patience, and maybe just a little luck – you can capture the amazing beauty the night sky has to offer us.
Capture that elusive award-winning night-sky image from anywhere on Earth and you could win an invitation to the Starmus Festival plus an hour to see the Universe as never before using the largest optical telescope on Earth – the GTC Roque de los Muchachos Observatory” on the island of La Palma.

Astrophotography School

Once in a lifetime opportunity to receive practical tuition and guidance on astrophotography from world renowned astrophotographers, in an incredibly unique setting at the The Observatorio del Teide (Teide Obsevatory) at 2390 m, close to Mt Teide More information…

Astrophotography Competition

Win an all expenses paid trip to Starmus and carry out a 60 min observation of the object of your choice with the largest optical
telescope in the world: the GTC (GRANTECAN or Gran Telescopio Canarias) on the island of La Palma More information…

Light captures light.

Sonic Universe

Beginnings. The making of the modern cosmos

Music and dance, a celebration of life, an enrichment of the soul. Feet stamping upon Mother Earth, sounds creating other sounds.

An exceptional concert of modern music for your enjoyment. A message of harmony sent into space that will reverberate to the edges of the Universe. Sounds and emotions entwined forever in this unique experience.

Artist Lineup

Rick Wakeman and Brian May performing live on stage in Tenerife!

Friday, 26th September 2014

We are very excited to confirm that Rick Wakemen the legendary keyboard player from the internationally renowned progressive rock band YES will be performing live on stage for the first time in Tenerife, as part of this years Starmus Festival. He will be joined on stage by, astrophysicist and rock legend Brian May the lead guitarist of the rock band QueenMore information…

Paradise on Earth

Beginnings. The making of the modern cosmos

From Mount Teide’s 3,718 metre summit down to the beach, from the mysterious “laurisilva” forests to the desert landscapes, from snow to sun, from well frequented tourist haunts to well-hidden locations – everything less than an hour apart – and with 20C average temperatures all year round.

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands also known as the Canaries, are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, which enjoy a wonderful mild climate with an average temperature of 21C all year round. More information…

Tenerife

Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands. The 3718 meter high volcano Mount Teide dominates the island with its huge crater. It is an island of many contrasts and micro climates with mountains, forests and beautiful beaches. More information…

La Palma

La Palma also called the “beautiful island” because of its exuberant countryside is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands. More information…

If you want to experience the nearest thing to Paradise – come and visit Tenerife and La Palma.